Warriors: Hidden Sights - Fallen Dawn

Chapter 7 - Fading Bonds

There were no congratulations, no welcoming calls of the name of the new apprentice. Only a stunned silence remained in the camp as every cat dispersed for their respective duties.

Lilyflower was the first to rush up to Clawpaw, covering him in comforting licks as if he was a newborn kit. He barely reacted, still shaken to his bones.

Emberstorm came forward, resting his tail on the dark tabby's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he muttered quietly.

Clawpaw wanted to say that he shouldn't apologise, but his mouth was dry and his jaws refused to move. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed that his foster littermates were gathering around him as well.

"That was so scary!" Wildkit cried. "I thought Hailstar was going to rip you to shreds!"

Her brash comment was quickly reprimanded by Lilyflower, who shot her a stern look.

"I'm... just glad you're okay." Cinderkit's eyes were gleaming with relief.

Clawpaw nodded dumbly at everything. He was still too shocked to register the things around him. Despite his clouded state, he became painfully aware of one thing.

Sandkit was silent.

Usually, the confident cream tom would be one of the first to voice out his thoughts. Now, he was standing at a notable distance away from Clawpaw, in a way that allowed him not to face the apprentice directly.

In an instant, Clawpaw remembered the time Sandkit offered to hang out with him, and the times he stood up for him. The dark brown tabby thought that perhaps they could be friends, but was he being too hopeful after all?

Whatever it was, he felt hurt.

"Come on, kits," Lilyflower mewed, ushering his former denmates back to the nursery. "We shouldn't delay him any longer; he's an apprentice now. Frostblaze must be looking for him."

"Yes, Lilyflower," they chorused.

Emberstorm was unwilling to leave Clawpaw alone. Reluctantly, after hearing Timberclaw's call for him to join the patrol, he lifted his tail off his kit's shoulder. "If... there's anything I can help with, tell me."

Clawpaw looked blankly at him. "Okay."

Once Emberstorm disappeared through the tunnel, the newest apprentice felt everything rushing back to him. How Hailstar openly ridiculed him in front of the Clan, the emptiness he felt when he realised his own helplessness, then the surprise as Frostblaze stood up for him and became his mentor, though it was not a proper ceremony.

He went through those things in his head again, and found that his mind became clearer than its initial dazed state.

Hailstar mentioned a prophecy, Clawpaw remembered.

"When the sun sets, a new dawn will rise, only to be conquered by a blizzard of claws."

The ThunderClan leader had accused him of being the threat spoken in the prophecy, seemingly justifying his actions. The dark tabby already knew Hailstar despised him, and the prophecy was painfully convenient to be used.

Clawpaw wanted it all to be false. How could he be the threat to ThunderClan?

He needed answers.

Sunstream might know something.

As he started off to the medicine cat den, he stopped, wondering if Frostblaze was looking for him. A quick glance around camp revealed that she was in a heated discussion with Blazestrike, a brown striped tom. The light tabby she-cat did not seem to be leaving any time soon, so he hoped that it would be okay.

Brushing past the tunnel of ferns that led to the medicine cat den, Clawpaw found himself in a grassy clearing with a small pool on one side. There was a rock with cracks that held various leaves, roots and stems, neatly arranged.

There was no sign of Sunstream, though her - and another cat's - scent was fresh, mixed with the sweet scent of herbs.

"If you are looking for Sunstream, she went to the forest with Spikethorn."

Frostblaze's voice made Clawpaw jump in surprise.

"You want to know more about the prophecy, don't you?" she mewed.

For a heartbeat, he just stared dumbly at his newly appointed mentor, unsure of how to respond.

"I do too, but it's not our place," his mentor spoke. Then, in a gentler tone, she meowed, "Are you okay?"

Clawpaw scuffled his paws awkwardly. "I... guess so."

A doubtful expression crossed her face, but she covered it up with a smile. "How about a tour of the territory?"

The territory!

The dark brown tabby had almost forgotten that he was allowed to be out of the camp, now that he made an apprentice. Excitement tingled in his paws; he had been itching to see what laid beyond the gorse tunnel for moons.

As he followed his mentor out of camp, he wondered what kind of mentor Frostblaze would be. It was common knowledge that she was the youngest of the warriors, but even so she survived the dark battle that took so many lives, and defeated the cat who started it.

Barely a few pawsteps into the forest, Clawpaw stopped abruptly.

Frostblaze, noticing that he stopped following, turned around. "What's wrong?"

"Why?"

"Why what?" she asked.

"Why... did you want be my mentor?" He struggled with his words, trying to convey his confusion and surprise he felt when she stood up for him. "Don't you hate... Snarlfang?"

"I do," Frostblaze responded almost immediately, and her eyes were pained as she recounted what happened. "I saw Patchheart die in front my eyes, slain by Snarlfang himself. Patchheart, the one who always brought smiles to the Clan, was gone. So yes, I do hate him. But I don't hate you."

"But-"

"When I saw what Hailstar did to you, I was angry. The leader, of all cats, hurling accusations at a kit in a mocking fashion. I knew someone had to step in," Frostblaze paused, and looked at Clawpaw directly in his eyes. "So I did."

The apprentice lowered his head. He knew he should be grateful, but he felt bad. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For making you confront Hailstar like that. If your relationship with your father is ruined because of me... I don't know how to make it up to you."

"It was my decision," was Frostblaze's response. "Besides, our relationship is already strained."

Her blue eyes were wistful, though it grew dark with gloom. "Ever since that battle, he became more distant. I waited, hoping that he would get better, but he seems so insistent on wallowing in grief that I become more frustrated when trying to talk to him. Now, I don't know how to talk to him."

Clawpaw shifted his paws uncomfortably. Why did she suddenly confide in me, of all cats?

"Sorry, you didn't need to hear all that," Frostblaze mewed, shaking herself back to reality. "How about we get onto the tour?"

He nodded, happy to get going. However, something lingered in his heart, heavy and sombre, as if grieving for the broken relationship between kin.

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Part of Clawpaw's and Frostblaze's conversation in a nutshell:

Frostblaze: *confides in Clawpaw*

Clawpaw: *thinking* Uhh, we kind of just met but okay?

Anyway, why do you think Sandkit acted like that towards Clawpaw?